Are we in the midst of an economic collapse or a business evolution? From anything that happens in a negative form, something always good comes from it. Currently, we are all sitting wondering what that good is. The world is shut down, people are protesting that they want to get back to work and others are asking the government to lock things down harder and keep people home. Where is balance and who brings that forward? While we don’t write about the politics of it all, we do write a lot about what staff and businesses go through. How people in general contract and expand.
We have been through several collapses in the Alberta market. The late 90s and early 2000s, 2008, 2014, 2016 and now in 2020. Of all of them, something has come well out of it, except for 2020 that is still ongoing. The good that has come out of it is how business transforms in the face of adversity and then how staff need to transform with it. We have noticed businesses having to put in substantial effort to ensure staff are looked after as a person and not as a number.
People in general, thanks to the internet, now have more of a voice than ever before. The days of people staying at businesses because that is all that is out there are slowly disappearing. And now in 2020 with people having to stay at home, business is starting to see efficiency cracks and who works and who does not.
We are starting to notice that if people cannot work from home efficiently, then they are probably not working from the office efficiently either. But, we hear the complaint, oh it’s just different working from home! Yes, it is, but discipline is discipline. Currently, in 2020 being at home, the biggest challenge is having kids at home from school. Trying to balance kids, schoolwork and work is hard. But discipline is discipline.
With all these economic collapses, business performance suffers. What is needed are leaders and owners deciphering where they can go next. The global scale of business changes so rapidly, that it is a good thing to have people making plans and adapting to what the world gives them. There is always an answer if you strategize, plan and execute. The ability to change and adapt anywhere along the way will make you perform much more effectively in any economy. Having staff that are all on the same page as you move and execute will bring long-lasting success to the business and staff alike.
What we are learning through the 2020 collapse is the ability of groups to perform remotely. How does that look in your company? Last week we had a conversation with a coordinator that is used to working from the office and having people around where they assist the other project managers. They were left wondering where to turn and how to proceed when working from home.
Our simple answer was communicating more often. They were having weekly meetings, but when everyone is separated, that is not enough. With this example people are now saving themselves from travelling to the office, so allocate at least 15 minutes a day to talk over skype, phone lines, zoom and so on. Ensure people are doing ok and getting the projects and tasks completed. We believe what a lot of groups are missing is enhanced communication and goal setting. Get in touch daily and set weekly goals that are attainable to drive group performance while working from a distance. Group performance leads to individual performance which leads to business performance. Any time a group can be proactive instead of reactive leads to overall success.
When communicating about business performance, if you want further direction, feel free to reach out to Future To Now Consulting and speak with our business management consultants at any time.
